About Us
Vision
The Concordia Lutheran Schools of Omaha Foundation is the trusted source for donors to create a transformational legacy and a strong financial foundation for perpetual Gospel proclamation.
Mission
The mission of the Concordia Lutheran Schools of Omaha Foundation is the same as that of the school: "At Concordia, students are faith secure... world ready... kingdom leaders!" We strive to prepare young people for lives of faith, service, and leadership as Christian disciples.
Values
The Concordia Foundation strives to be donor-centered in a spirit of gratitude and service, committed to helping donors find joy in their generosity as they seek to fulfill their transformational legacy. The Foundation seeks to manage the relationship of Concordia supporters with integrity, accountability, and transparency.
Purpose
The purpose of the Foundation is to financially support Concordia Lutheran Schools of Omaha. The Foundation fulfills its purpose by investing and managing donated gifts so that the school can continue to expand its mission. Distributions from the endowment are made in accordance with the donors wishes; or if no directions are provided by the donor, the Board of Directors of Concordia allocates the money to student scholarships, general school sustainability, and/or facilities.
Endowment Giving
Make a lasting impact!
At Concordia Lutheran Schools of Omaha, making an endowed gift is one of the most powerful ways to have a lasting impact. Endowment gifts support students, faculty, and programs, driving progress for centuries to come.
What is an endowment gift?
An endowment gift is a donation that is given with the intent to preserve the original value of the gift, and to grow it over time as part of a larger endowment fund.
What is an endowment gift’s lasting impact?
Endowed gifts provide a stable income stream to ensure Concordia’s continued excellence to ensure our students are “Faith Secure, World Ready, Kingdom Leaders.” These gifts help Concordia do what we have done for more than 20 years-but better and with more impact. Countless students benefit from endowed scholarships-enabling them to come to Concordia and later make an impact in the Church and World.
Every endowment gift can have a lasting and growing effect on Concordia. For example, in 2000, a gift of $100,000 to establish an endowed fund for financial aid would have a value of over $200,000 today. The annual distribution from the gift would have been approximately $5,000 in 2000 and would have grown to $10,000 by 2020. This gift’s impact would continue to grow and achieve the donor’s vision for increasing access to a Concordia education.
Who manages Concordia’s endowment?
The Concordia School Board of Directors created a Foundation with its own Board of Directors. This Board created an Investment Committee which engages independent investment advisors and appoints committee members, who are experienced in asset management, to manage the assets of the endowment.
How is Concordia’s endowment doing?
Due to the generosity of donors and strategic investment management, the endowment continues to grow. The total value of Concordia’s endowment as of December 31, 2022 was $3.0 million. Concordia produced an average annual return of 15.5% on its endowment portfolio for the last three years.
What Is an Endowment Fund?
An endowment fund is generally comprised of money or assets donated to an institution which uses the resulting investment income for a specific purpose such as school operations, sustainability, and student scholarships. Endowments are designed to keep the principal amount intact while using the investment income for needs of the institution.
Tuition covers only about 65% of the school's operating costs. Endowment gifts help bridge the gap needed to educate each student.
Foundation Giving
Trusted stewardship of your gifts
The Concordia Lutheran Schools of Omaha Foundation (Concordia), which was established to accept endowment gifts and works in partnership with the School Board of Directors and Administration. This partnership is tasked to ensure that no potential student is turned away because a family is unable to pay tuition.
The Concordia Foundation was founded in the year 2002 and re-energized in 2015 to provide financial support and stability for the Gospel proclamation activities of Concordia today and into the future.
Your gift(s) may be given in several ways. For example, cash will make an impact today, pledges will make an impact tomorrow, and endowment gifts will make an impact forever, with earnings on endowment assets of the Foundation sent to the school annually. However you choose to make your contribution(s), all gifts will serve to help a student graduate.
How does the Concordia Endowment grow?
The answer is through your gifts and applying sound investment practices to the stewardship of your gifts. The Concordia School Board of Directors has created a Foundation with its own separate Board of Directors from the school. The foundation Board then has established an Investment Committee focused on applying sound investment practices to the stewardship of your gifts. An Investment Policy Statement is then adopted by the Board, and individuals-experienced in asset management-are appointed to the committee. The committee then engages independent investment advisors to assist the committee in investing the endowment funds.
What is Concordia’s policy for ensuring good stewardship of endowment funds?
The Foundation Board of Directors has adopted an Investment Policy Statement that includes the following:
- Creation of an investment committee to provide direct oversight of the endowment fund assets management and the quarterly reporting of such activity to the Board of Directors.
- A diversified asset allocation of 60% equity/40% fixed income.
- A spending policy of up to 5% per year of the beginning-of-year fund corpus.
- Engagement of an investment advisor who invests the assets in accordance with the policy.
As depicted in the charts, the Lord has blessed Concordia, through an endowment fund of $3.0 million as of December 31, 2021, and a solid investment performance as compared to the benchmark. The benchmark is provided by Morningstar on a 60% equity/40% fixed income allocation of market performance of the assets allocated in the same manner as Concordia’s asset allocation.
Since 2016, the Foundation has added $1,503,000 to the endowment through investment performance and distributed $605,000 to the school. New gifts since 2016 amounted to $1,250,000.
What Is a Foundation?
A private foundation, such as the one Concordia Lutheran Schools of Omaha has established, is a nonprofit organization that typically provides funding and support through donations from individuals and/or entities. A board of directors oversees the assets, primary endowment gifts and is responsible for receiving charitable gifts, managing and investing assets, filing tax returns, and handling other administrative reporting requirements.
Board of Directors
Lee J. Handke
Gail Hawkins
A. William "Bill" Kernen
Brandon Newhouse
Lloyd Probasco
Gaye Lynn Schaffart
Dan Vehle
Sabrina Weiss
Leadership Team
Rob Cooksey
Dear Friends of Concordia Lutheran Schools of Omaha,
The purpose of the Concordia Lutheran Schools of Omaha Foundation, Inc. (The Foundation) is to support Concordia Lutheran Schools of Omaha.
The Foundation fulfills its purpose by investing and managing donated funds. Distributions from these funds are allocated to student scholarships, general school sustainability, and capital expenditures.
The school awards general tuition scholarships based upon a family’s qualified financial need. Increasing the dollars available for scholarships will help to put a quality, Christian education within the reach of more families, and it will extend the Concordia mission to serve a more economically diverse population. The Foundation aspires to provide tuition support for ALL qualified need. Thus, the current priority of The Foundation is to increase its general endowment to support scholarships and mission advancement.
All gifts made to the Foundation online, via a website, will be directed to the general Foundation endowment. However, the Foundation does accept other gifts for special purposes, such as awards for excellence in teaching and capital improvements. Such purposes must be designated by the donor and in compliance with The Foundation’s gift acceptance policy.
Please contact the Director of Advancement, at 402-445-4000 for more information on supporting the Foundation through your gifts.
Sincerely,
Robert Cooksey
CLSO Foundation President